Book Description
Volume V in the acclaimed Real Utopias Project series, edited by Erik Olin Wright.
Are there ways that contemporary capitalism can be rendered a dramatically more egalitarian economic system without destroying its productivity and capacity for growth? This book explores two proposals, unconditional basic income and stakeholder grants, that attempt just that. In a system of basic income, as elaborated by Philippe van Parijs, all citizens are given a monthly stipend sufficient to provide them with a no-frills but adequate standard of living. This monthly income is universal rather than means-tested, and it is unconditional—receiving the basic income does not depend upon performing any labor services or satisfying other conditions. It affirms the idea that as a matter of basic rights, no one should live in poverty in an affluent society. In a system of stakeholder grants, as discussed by Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott, all citizens upon reaching the age of early adulthood receive a substantial one-time lump-sum grant sufficiently large so that all young adults would be significant wealth holders. Ackerman and Alstott propose that this grant be in the vicinity of $80,000 and be financed by an annual wealth tax of roughly 2 percent. A system of stakeholder grants, they argue, "expresses a fundamental responsibility: every American has an obligation to contribute to a fair starting point for all."
Book Description
Two authors from The Age of Reason and Enlightenment envisioned their own philosophical and intellectual utopias. Campanella was a student of logic and physics while Bacon focused on politics and philosophy. Despite the authors' differences in setting and treatment, each of these 17th-century classics reflect the idealism of an age.
Download Description
We sailed from Peru, (where we had continued for the space of one whole year) for China and Japan, by the South Sea; taking with us victuals for twelve months; and had good winds from the east, though soft and weak, for five months space, and more. But the wind came about, and settled in the west for many days, so as we could make little or no way, and were sometime in purpose to turn back.
Customer Reviews:
Not What I Thought it Would Be.......2007-07-30
It's not what I thought it would be. It seemed to be advertised as an esoteric Rosicrucian document, but it's really just Bacon's portrait of an ideal society. It's true that society has Rosicrucian ideals, but it is mostly a politcal book.
Bacon is a rarity: an author that who writes with verve and insight!.......2005-09-20
This is a fascinating read and my favorite of all Bacon's writings.
A Must Have for the Esoteric Scholar!.......2005-09-06
I loved this book. It tied so much together for me regarding the mystery schools. If you are an esoteric fanatic like me, then this must be added to your collection.
A Mystical Journey to America.......2005-08-25
This is Francis Bacon's model for America. Many believe it is the vision of the ancient spiritual adepts. Fascinating reading and most provoking.
Two visions of The Good Life.......2005-03-29
This is a very short text: 85pp for the two pieces, plus an intro. Each piece gives a brief description of one thinker's ideal world, a Utopia of a sort. This book is strengthened by presenting two such different views, casting them into sharp contrast.
The first, by Bacon, makes much of pomp, ceremony, and fine accoutrements. He starts by describing the wonderful pageant put out for any man whose living descendants exceed thirty in number. He is paraded among and served by his issue, and granted gifts by the benevolent ruler. At this point - only at this point - is a woman of the realm mentioned. His wife, should she have survived such a feat of childbearing, is to be presented as well, in a carriage, tightly enclosed. A featureless box, the best to which a woman might aspire. (Bacon goes out of his way to disparage More's Utopia, in an amusing aside.)
The remainder of the story details the alchemical feats and workshops of the land. They interested Bacon much the way a candy store might interest a child, with no thought as to how they might be provisioned or staffed. Although the many labs are of interest to today's technologist, the country's means of feeding itself and its voracious researchers remains unsaid.
Campanella's "City of the Sun" is a Utopia of very different character. Above all, it focusses its energies on war more than any other city since Sparta. He demands training in arms for men and women both from the earliest age on, though women would enter combat only in final resort. Even the infirm are put to service however they may serve: the lame can watch and guard, the blind can work in some crafts, and so on. Women are expected to participate in industry, too, except in the woodworkers' and armorers' trades. This city is surprisingly free in religion - Jews are tolerated, if not too jewish, as well as Brahmins and others who acknowledge a soul. Hey, in those days, it was radical.
Both authors express ideas that repulse a modern mind. Even Campanella's enlightened treatment of women and religious minorities sounds brutal, until considered in the context of his time. Bacon's blinkered self-involvement would barely be worth a chuckle, until one considers his influence on history.
It's not formal, but it's a way to view history: what is it that each age most wanted itself to be? What views existed, and what views have survived? And how did the writers of each age differ from the man in the street, or more likely the man behind the plow?
//wiredwierd
Book Description
Two prominent economists lead a debate to redistribute wealth. In Recasting Egalitarianism, part of Verso's Real Utopias series, economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis diagnose the current malaise of the Left as a result of the obsolescence of its traditional economic models. They propose to rejuvenate the egalitarian project through a strategy of asset-based redistribution, drawing in novel ways on markets, competition, state regulation and community governance. In this major work on economic and social policy, the authors address the twin challenges posed by a globally integrated economy and the key economic roles now played by information, motivation, and other intangibles. They propose an egalitarian redistribution of assets - land, capital, and housing - and argue for the beneficial disciplining effects of competition both in markets and among publicly-funded service providers, pointing out that the injustices commonly associated with markets can be avoided if assets are more equally distributed. The lead essay in the book lays out the underlying logic of this proposal in some detail. This is followed by responses by critics and supporters.
Contributors include: Harry Brighouse, Michael Carter, Steve Durlauf, Paula England, David Gordon, Daniel M. Hausman, Karla Hoff, Andrew Levine, Elaine McCrate, Karl Ove Moen, Ugo Pagano, John E. Roomer, Peter Skott, Michael Wallerstein, Erik Olin Wright.
Customer Reviews:
rigorous exploration of how to end inequality.......1999-04-19
All the contributors to this volume are seriously committed to solving the persistent riddle of economic inequality in advanced economies as well as preventing the undermining of democracy by the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. To this end, they set out bold proposals which transcend the pitfalls of both corporate capitalism and the now defunct, East European socialisms. Issues such as property rights, housing, school choice, political associations, economic efficiency and the benefits of asset redistribution are all discussed with rigor and clarity by the several contributors. All the topics are excellent counterblasts to the current aopologists for Conservative policies in the era of 'globalization'. This one is a must for all those concerned about the future of economic justice and the evolution of democratic societies.
Book Description
In this fascinating account of what makes Canada such a successful society, Joseph Heath celebrates the much-maligned value of efficiency and asks some searching questions about the forces that threaten to undermine our quality of life. In Canada, personal liberty takes precedence over collective well-being, which makes it an efficient society, but this efficiency is under siege. Can we resist the allure of shortsighted tax cuts? Can we maintain our quality of life in the face of relentless pressure to increase our productivity-both at work and at home? This is a profound and important look at how government and business conspire to improve our lives-and at the dramatic changes that will decide our social and economic future.
Customer Reviews:
Everyone should read this book.......2007-09-25
This is the only book I have ever read that I could truly say imposed a radical change on my political beliefs. The brilliance of this book is that it takes a very simple idea and demonstrates how it applies to so many distinct areas of modern political dispute, all the while undercutting most of the traditional political debates, and by doing so makes you wonder "why hadn't I thought that way about it before?"
The idea in question is that of the "collective action problem". In essence this is a situation where if everyone acts according to their own self interest, everyone ends up worse off than they would have been if they had accepted a compromise instead. Collective action problems cause inefficiencies, hence the title of the book. Heath's point is that a great many of the institutions in our societies can be explained, and more importantly justified, as means for avoiding falling into collective action problems.
So rather than thinking of a social welfare system or a public health care system as justified on moral grounds (equality, fairness), we should really see these institutions for what they are: means of promoting efficiency by avoiding collective action problems. In other words, what we tend to pay for through coercive taxation are things that, if we were left to pay for individually through the free market, would cause collective action problems and result in inefficiencies and wastage. So far from being a justification for heartless exploitation, it turns out that efficiency is a moral value that is central to our lives and institutions, and most importantly can be used to justify many government programs.
So if you ever wondered whether those people who claim that government is necessarily inefficient were right, Heath's book will prove to you beyond all shadow of doubt that they are mistaken and that government is in fact the central efficiency promoting institution in the modern world.
the efficient society.......2007-05-07
the author examines a number of social and economic issues using the prisoner's dilemma. it's a good book for people interested in sociology and economics
Excellent overview of Canadian "values".......2003-11-12
This book gives a quick overview of Canadian values, and summarizes the perspective of a new type of society emerging in Canada. The concept of a society built not around liberty or equality, but rather, just making as many people happy as possible.
An excellent addition to my collection.
An inefficient book, about one big idea........2003-02-24
I recently read THE EFFICIENT SOCIETY, at the advice of a friend. The introduction and conclusion present the central ideas of the book: i.e., that Canada is much better off than most Canadians think, because we efficiently make the best of a combination of market economics and government programs. None of these, in itself, is perfect or ideal; but the coombination is the best mix that we can get at this time, yielding a high quality of life (ranked no. 1 for many years in UN rankings, and close to the top in the last year or so (I wrote this in Feb. 2003).
The problem is that all of this, with a few key illustrative examples, fits into 20-30 pages. The book is close to 300 pages. The author has written an excellent essay, with a provocative idea; he should have kept it to an essay. Instead, he has padded it out to a book. Much of this book details simplistic or pedantic presentations of "general ideas" about key concepts (e.g., a tedious chapter on the history of efficiency that regurgitates boiler plate bits about Aristotle, Taylor and Gilbreth the early efficiency experts, and a badly potted synopsis of Vilfredo Pareto. In effect, 250 pages or so represent badly prepared tidbits or hors d'ouevres that sound very much like the half-baked musings of a junior philosophy lecturer.
Little more is written to tell us more about the Canadian situation. Much is left out: nothing on foreign relations, not much on export markets or economic relations with other countries, particularly the U.S., nothing about the froth (the play on anti-Americanism, the play on Federalism and natioanl unity) that passes for political thinking and strategic poicy thrusts in this country.
.
Read the intro and conclusion of this book, get a general idea of its main argument, check the index, and then read up on some of the details yourself.
Average customer rating:
|
Ideology and Utopia in the Social Philosophy of the Libertarian Economists (Contributions in Economics and Economic History)
Rick Tilman
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Theory
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
History & Theory
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conservatism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
History & Surveys
| Philosophy
| Humanities
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
History & Theory
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
Theory
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
General
| Business & Finance
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
History & Theory
| Economics
| Business & Finance
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
General
| Economics
| Business & Finance
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0313315582 |
Book Description
Challenging the libertarians' definition of freedom and democracy, this study portrays the social philosophy of Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, Friedrich Hayek, and George Stigler as the bulwark of an attack on welfare and regulatory state collectivism and as undermining majoritarian democracy, political and civil liberties, and social equality. The book opens with Frank Knight's doctrines and their impact on the Chicago laissez faire economists, places libertarianism within the American tradition of empirical collectivism, and explores Friedrich Hayek's road-to-serfdom thesis within the context of the New Deal. Posing problems of corporate power, it uses Friedman, Stigler, and Buchanan as examples of libertarian denial of these problems and, in a consideration of the debate between the New Left and Libertarian Right, contrasts their ideologies. The work concludes with a historical summing up that juxtaposes the recent past to the present, links libertarian material interests with the growth of corporate hegemony, and portrays the right wing of neoclassical economics as an intellectual bulwark of business culture. The emergent plutocracy that we now live in, including the erosion of democratic theory and practice, owes a significant part of its doctrinal and political sustenance to the influence of the free market economists who are the subject of this book. The study is the first to use the unpublished papers of libertarians James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Milton Friedman, and George Stigler to bring their interpretations of the meaning of freedom and democracy into question.
Average customer rating:
|
Historical Dictionary of Utopianism (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies and Movements)
Kross Andrea L.
Manufacturer: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Reference
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Communism & Socialism
| Ideologies
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Socialism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0810849127 |
Book Description
This Dictionary provides a wide range of coverage on a topic that has played a significant role in human society, from the early theoreticians and thinkers who proposed republican, democratic, and authoritarian innovations; to those who sought equal
Average customer rating:
|
Paths in Utopia (Martin Buber Library)
Martin Buber
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Jewish
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Constitutions
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Modern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Communism & Socialism
| Ideologies
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Socialism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Utopian
| Movements
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Judaism
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Buber, Martin
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Two Types of Faith (Martin Buber Library)
-
Eclipse of God: Studies in the Relation Between Religion and Philosophy
-
Good and Evil
-
I And Thou
-
Between Man and Man (Routledge Classics)
ASIN: 0815604211 |
Customer Reviews:
intellectually and societally challenging.......2007-05-12
This book requires true open-mindedness and personal questioning. If one ponders with reasonable sincerity about the growing poverty and the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, considering solutions - as opposed to socio-economic band-aids, perhaps this approach might be taken more seriously... albeit impractical for the capitalist societies. It should be more broadly read and debated to stimulate true solution thinking, perhaps with a different editorail approach for the pragmatic mindsets.
Average customer rating:
|
A Change and a Parting: My Story of Amana (Iowa Heritage Collection)
Barbara Selzer Yambura , and
Eunice W. Bodine
Manufacturer: Iowa State Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Iowa
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Church History
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Business
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative Religion
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Socialism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Utopian
| Movements
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Amana People: History of a Religious Community
ASIN: 081380261X |
Product Description
This book traces the history of the Amana Colonies through the eyes of the author who was among the last group of young people to reach adulthood in one of the seven villages (Homestad) ruled by the elders of the religious sect, The Community of True Inspiration. An off-shoot of Lutheranism, the Amana people came to America in 1844 seeking freedom from religious persecution. The church still exists today only in the Colonies. The Amana people are not Amish, although they trace to a peaceful Anabaptist heritage.
Average customer rating:
- A history filled with personal experiences and insights
|
Harmonists: A Personal History (The American Utopian Adventure)
John Samuel Duss
Manufacturer: Porcupine Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Socialism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0879910135 |
Customer Reviews:
A history filled with personal experiences and insights.......1999-10-14
This is a very readable history of the Harmony Society by a man who actually grew up in Economy (the third of the towns which this Utopian society built), left to get married, and returned to live and serve as the last Trustee of the Society. It is a fascinating story beginning with Father Rapp in Germany and ending with the final legal agreements with the heirs.
Books:
- Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada
- Security Policies and Procedures: Principles and Practices (Prentice Hall Security Series)
- Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary (Milady's Skin Care and Cosmetics Ingredients Dictionary)
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
- Streetsmart Guide to Valuing A Stock: The Savvy Investor's Key to Beating the Market
- StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
- Success Is a Choice: Ten Steps to Overachieving in Business and Life
- Sustainable Tourism
- The ART of Risk Management
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7
- The Laws of Lifetime Growth: Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past
- The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning
- The Will to Believe, Human Immortality
- Beverage Service World, The
- A Dark Night Hidden
- California Bungalows of the Twenties
- The Mosque: History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity
- Understanding Balance: The Mechanics of Posture and Locomotion
Recasting Egalitarianism: New Rules for Communities, States and Markets (Real Utopias Project (Series) , V. 3.)
The Stakeholder Society
Karl Marx: A Reader
Is Inequality Bad for Our Health? (New Democracy Forum)
Social Justice in the Liberal State
